Gegen Qinlian Decoction (GQD), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has long been used for the treatment of common metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the main limitation of its wider application is ingredient complexity of this formula. Thus, it is critically important to identify the major active ingredients of GQD and to illustrate mecha-nisms underlying its action. Here, we compared the effects of GQD and berberine, a hypothetical key active pharmaceutical ingredient of GQD, on a diabetic rat model by comprehensive analyses of gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acids, proinflammatory cytokines, and ileum transcriptomics. Our results show that berberine and GQD had similar effects on lowering blood glucose levels, modulating gut microbiota, inducing ileal gene expression, as well as relieving systemic and local inflammation. As expected, both berberine and GQD treatment significantly altered the overall gut microbiota structure and enriched many butyrate-producing bacteria, including Faecalibacterium and Roseburia, thereby attenuating intestinal inflammation and lowering glucose. Levels of short-chain fatty acids in rat feces were also significantly elevated after treatment with ber-berine or GQD. Moreover, concentration of serum proinflammatory cytokines and expression of immune-related genes, including Nfkb1, Stat1, and Ifnrg1, in pancreatic islets were significantly reduced after treatment. Our study demonstrates that the main effects of GQD can be attributed to berberine via modulating gut microbiota. The strategy employed would facilitate further stan-dardization and widespread application of TCM in many diseases.

Objective:To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of different antifungal medications for fungal keratitis (FK).Methods:A network meta-analysis was conducted.Four databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science were searched.The publication period was from inception to March 16, 2023.Two researchers followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria to screen randomized controlled trial (RCT), completed the quality assessment and extracted the information.Literature quality assessment was performed using Review Manager 5.4 bias risk assessment tool, and network meta-analysis was performed using Stata 14.0 software for cure rate, healing time, visual acuity improvement and safety of different antifungal drugs for fungal keratitis.Results:A total of 14 RCTs involving 1 681 patients were finally included in this study.The network meta-analysis showed that 0.2% chlorhexidine eye drops and 5% natamycin eye drops+ oral voriconazole had better efficacy than other interventions in cure rate, and the surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) were 86.1% and 63.3%, respectively.The cure rate of 1% voriconazole eye drops was lower than that of 0.2% chlorhexidine eye drops, 5% natamycin eye drops+ oral voriconazole, 0.05% chlorhexidine eye drops, 0.1% chlorhexidine eye drops, 5% natamycin eye drops+ oral ketoconazole and 5% natamycin eye drops, showing statistically significant differences (all at P<0.05).1% voriconazole eye drops and 5% natamycin eye drops+ oral voriconazole showed better efficacy than other interventions in terms of healing time (SUCRA=66.9%, 55.7%).The combination of 5% natamycin eye drops, 1% voriconazole eye drops and oral voriconazole showed a better efficacy than others in improving visual acuity and safety (SUCRA=74.8%, 79.7%).For safety, 5% natamycin eye drops was superior to 1% voriconazole eye drops and 0.2% chlorhexidine eye drops, with statistically significant differences (both at P<0.05).In addition, there may be potential publication bias in this analysis. Conclusions:0.2% chlorhexidine eye drops and 1% voriconazole eye drops are effective in the treatment of FK.The combination use of 5% natamycin eye drops, 1% voriconazole eye drops and oral voriconazole can improve visual acuity and had good safety.

Microbiome research is a quickly developing field in biomedical research, and we have witnessed its potential in understanding the physiology, metabolism and immunology, its critical role in understanding the health and disease of the host, and its vast capacity in disease prediction, intervention and treatment. However, many of the fundamental questions still need to be addressed, including the shaping forces of microbial diversity between individuals and across time. Microbiome research falls into the classical nature vs. nurture scenario, such that host genetics shape part of the microbiome, while environmental influences change the original course of microbiome development. In this review, we focus on the nature, i.e., the genetic part of the equation, and summarize the recent efforts in understanding which parts of the genome, especially the human and mouse genome, play important roles in determining the composition and functions of microbial communities, primarily in the gut but also on the skin. We aim to present an overview of different approaches in studying the intricate relationships between host genetic variations and microbes, its underlying philosophy and methodology, and we aim to highlight a few key discoveries along this exploration, as well as current pitfalls. More evidence and results will surely appear in upcoming studies, and the accumulating knowledge will lead to a deeper understanding of what we could finally term a "hologenome", that is, the organized, closely interacting genome of the host and the microbiome.
Animals ; Biomedical Research ; Genes ; Genetic Variation ; Genome ; Host-Pathogen Interactions ; genetics ; Humans ; Metagenomics ; Microbiota